Honda honors suppliers of indirect products and services

6/15/2014 8:46:07 AM

By Joel Penhorwood

Honda has honored 25 suppliers that provide indirect products and services to five Honda automotive plants in Ohio and Indiana. Driven by record auto production in North America in 2013, Honda also announced that its purchasing for Maintenance, Repair and Operational (MRO) services in this region set a record of more than $1.4 billion for the fiscal year ending March 2014.

The MRO purchasing milestone came on the heels of record Honda auto production and parts purchasing in Ohio and Indiana in 2013 with the production of 976,361 automobiles at it three auto plants in Marysville and East Liberty, Ohio, and Greensburg, Ind. MRO purchasing also supports operations of Honda’s engine plant in Anna, Ohio and transmission plant in Russells Point, Ohio.

Different from suppliers that provide parts and materials for the mass production of Honda products, the more than 5,000 MRO suppliers support Honda plants by providing a wide variety of equipment, products and services that support the manufacturing of automobiles, as well as their engines and transmissions. These companies include local businesses as well as national companies, and many have grown along with the expansion of Honda’s automobile manufacturing in North America since Honda began U.S. auto production at the Marysville Auto Plant in 1982.

“With a host of pinnacle products coming to market next year, and with record production and sales targeted in the coming years, Honda will continue to transform its business by advancing technology in our products and manufacturing operations to maximize joy for the customer,” said Tom Lake, vice president for Purchasing and Cost Planning at Honda North America, Inc. “We thank our suppliers for the important role they continue to play in our success by bringing new ideas and value to our business.”

In 2013, Honda manufactured a record 1.78 million automobiles in North America, which led to the purchase of more than $25.5 billion in parts and materials in the region from 650 parts suppliers, also an all-time annual record. Parts purchasing for Honda plants in Indiana and Ohio last year totaled $12.2 billion from suppliers in North America, including more than 200 in Ohio and Indiana.

More than 260 MRO suppliers for Honda plants in Ohio and Indiana attended the annual conference in Columbus for the awards ceremony, networking and professional breakout sessions. Developed to recognize world-class business characteristics, the 25 suppliers were honored for achievements in the categories of Special Recognition, Outstanding Value, Performance Excellence and Supplier of the year.

“The purpose of the awards is to recognize suppliers that are bringing us value and helping Honda to advance our capabilities and deliver a better vehicle to our customers,” said Monica Oliverio, department manager of North American Indirect Procurement at Honda North America, Inc. “We want our suppliers to truly grow with us as we continue to expand and advance our operations in North America.”

Bill Easdale, vice president of Honda of America Mfg., Inc. added that the involvement of both indirect and parts suppliers is important as Honda’s North American operations take on new responsibilities to engineer and manufacture products for customers in this region and globally.

“In order to meet the responsibility of the lead role we have been asked to play in North America and to prepare for the next phase in our growth and evolution, we continue to invest in our business and our people,” Easdale said. “We have a long-term commitment to Ohio and to all of our operations in North America, and this should give our suppliers the confidence to grow with us and to innovate with us, by bringing their best new ideas to Honda.”

Below is a full list of those 25 suppliers recognized for their contributions to Honda.

Special Recognition

Suppliers that have made the most improvements in the Order Efficiency & Optimization Project. This initiative strives to make improvements in transactional efficiency and delivery performance

Maintenance, Repair, Operations, and Production products, and supply chain solutions to diverse markets. Offer a broad range of products, and strong expertise in technical and product applications.

Outstanding Value

Given to suppliers providing the most value to Honda by recognizing the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). These suppliers provide their competitive advantage to Honda, and delivery value and innovation through cost reductions, projects and services.

Autoelectros LLC

Powell, Ohio

Electrical and mechanical components for production facilities, with access to hundreds of thousands of high quality parts and technology options through more than 300 manufacturing partners.

McNaughton-McKay Electric Company

Columbus, Ohio

High-quality products and value-added services, including location of parts for maintenance teams that are difficult to find. Provides stellar customer service 24/7.

MQ Automation / Queen City Supply

Cincinnati, Ohio

Indianapolis, Indiana

Louisville, Kentucky

Provider of automation products and applications solutions, MQ designs and builds custom electric panels based on Honda’s engineering requirements. In addition to quality products, provides prototypes for testing and evaluation.

Applied Industrial Technologies

Sidney, Columbus, Cleveland, Ohio; Charlotte, North Carolina

Anniston, Alabama

Florence, South Carolina

Majority of Honda business is providing power transmission parts for North American operations. Partners with more than 2,000 manufacturers to provide the most innovative, efficient and reliable industrial products.

Omron Industrial Automation

Schaumburg, Illinois

Manufacturer that has gone above and beyond expectations in the installation of equipment and training Honda associates, including the development of modular training units for Honda’s technical training activities.

Paragon Service & Supply, Inc.

Lima, Ohio

Trusted key supplier that sets the benchmark for customer service, assuring the success of Honda’s extensive machining and tooling operations over the last 20 years. Defines the role of partner to Honda through attention to detail, follow-up and follow through, hands-on approach, and their efforts to exceed expectations.

Performance Excellence

Recognizes suppliers for meeting or exceeding performance standards within their categories, including meeting Quality, Cost & Delivery targets and service expectations. Also includes positive feedback on the supplier’s performance, not causing production line down time and having a good safety record..

NKC of America, Inc.

Memphis, Tennessee

Manufacturer and installer of conveyor systems for Honda throughout the U.S., Mexico, Canada and South America, NKC recently completed an automation shuttle expansion at the East Liberty Auto Plant, , while also finishing ahead of schedule.

Mori Seiki Co., Ltd.

Hoffman Estates, Ill.

Irving, Texas

Manufacturer of machine tools, Mori Seiki supplied a large number of metal cutting machines to meet Honda’s aggressive schedule to begin production of high-precision pulley components at the Anna Engine Plant for the production of continuously variable transmission (CVTs) at nearby Honda Transmission Mfg. of America, Inc., Russells Point, Ohio.

Ellison Technologies

Warrenville, Illinois

Critical post-sale installation support, set up and communication needed to ensure the smoothest startup possible of new production systems in multiple areas of the Anna Engine Plant.

Square D Company / Schneider Electric

O’Fallon, Missouri

Charlotte, North Carolina

Miamisburg and West Chester, Ohio

Columbia, South Carolina

Hoover, Alabama

North Andover, Massachusetts

Supplier of electrical components and panels for project based activities. In spite of unique challenges, met Honda’s schedule and specifications, while also improving on requirements and demonstrating exemplary customer service at all levels of their organization.

Bielomatiek, Inc.

New Hudson, Michigan

A company that installs paper processing, plastic welding and lubrication technologies, this company provided innovative thinking and applied tomorrow’s technology to new machines for the plastic welding of instrument panel components. This included improvements in quality and cycle times, while also reducing overall cost and completing the project ahead of schedule.

Studebaker Electric Company

Dayton, Ohio

Installation of a new engine assembly line at the Anna Engine Plant included installation of complicated machinery from six different manufacturers. Studebaker played a crucial role staying on schedule with existing work, monitoring future tasks and helping ensure the equipment manufacturers stayed engaged and on schedule.

Devon Industrial group

Detroit, Michigan

Partnering with the Facilities Department at the Anna Engine Plant, Devon demonstrated construction management excellence working with multiple trades and companies, and managing through changing requirements and uncooperative weather.

Architectural Systems, Inc.

Plain City, Ohio

New York City, New York

A long-term Honda partner, this company provides building repairs, maintenance and new construction at the Marysville Auto Plant. In addition to these normal responsibilities, Architectural Systems implemented innovation and environmental characteristics during a project to increase capacity to paint automobile bodies.

KNB Tools of America, Inc.

Plain City

This company sets the standard for quality, delivery and innovation among Honda’s tooling suppliers. KNB has been known to hand-carry parts across the Pacific Ocean and working around the clock to meet Honda’s critical needs.

The R.W. Earhart Company

Troy, Ohio

Following a mission statement that includes providing the most dependable, cost-effective and customized fuel services, this company has done a remarkable job providing propane cylinders for the operation of forklifts in Honda facilities.

Sedgwick Claims Management Services, Inc.

Dublin, Ohio

Sedgwick has a team of associates working on-site directly with Honda’s Health & Safety team to administer its Workers’ Compensation programs and strengthen operations to ensure that all services are provided with the highest quality and efficiency.

ARAMARK Uniform Services, Inc.

Columbus, Ohio

This global leader in providing uniform services has been able to maintain inventory levels for Honda, and to provide uniforms on the first day of hire, in spite of a spike in the number of new associates and changes in Honda’s organizational structure that required issuing new uniforms to more than 1,000 associates.

Larsen & Toubro Infotech Limited

Edison, New Jersey

This company assumed full support and maintenance responsibilities for Honda North America's New Model, Purchasing, Quality, Logistics, and Human Resource application systems. In addition, it has responsibility to extend these applications in Celaya, Mexico and to the Performance Management Center in Marysville, Ohio. This partnership is growing with additional support being provided to Honda R&D, and with development resources in Export Operations.

Supplier of the Year

Representing Best of the Best, these suppliers outperform all the others in the key business characteristics that encompass Quality, Cost, Delivery (QCD), as well as Safety and Service.

A privately held company, Creative Packaging is a dunnage supplier that moves parts to and from Honda OEM suppliers and to the Honda plants.

Health Partners LTD

Marysville, Ohio

Provider of on-site occupational medical services to Honda of America Mfg., Inc. over the past 17 years, Health Partners has continued to strengthen its partnership with Honda by responding to and supporting the growing business needs and expectations.

IBC Industrial Supply Plus, Inc.

(McAuliffe’s Industrial LLC)

Marysville, Ohio

Hartford, Connecticut

In partnership with McAuliffe’s, this general industrial distributor has a strong reputation for flexibility and responsiveness, including the management of unmanned MRO storerooms for Honda’s plants in Ohio that use radio frequency identification to manage flow of goods. IBC worked with MRO Purchasing and multiple manufacturing departments to standardize materials and reduce procurement costs.